What is a crypto prop firm?

A proprietary trading firm, or prop firm, traditionally trades its own money. The prop firms that sell to retail traders work differently: you pay a fee for an evaluation, trade under the firm's risk rules, and if you pass you share in the results of a funded account. A crypto prop firm applies this model to crypto markets, most often to perpetual futures on the largest coins.

At Nexbitra, as at many retail prop firms, every account is simulated, from the evaluation to the funded account. This guide explains what that means for you.

What you buy

You buy an evaluation account, also called a challenge. The fee is paid once and the account size is virtual. A 2-Step challenge with a 10K simulated balance costs $100, and a Classic 1-Step 10K costs $110. The challenges page lists every size and fee.

Inside the account you trade BTC, ETH and SOL perpetual futures at live market prices. The rules decide whether you pass:

• reach a profit target, for example 8% of the starting balance on Classic 1-Step;
• never let equity fall below the daily loss floor or the max loss floor;
• trade on a minimum number of days, 3 on Classic 1-Step.

Pass, verify your identity, and you receive a funded account. It is simulated too. When it shows a profit, you can request a share of it, 80% on Classic 1-Step, as a reward paid in bitcoin.

What is simulated, and what is real

• Simulated: the balance, the positions and the profit. No capital is given to you, and no order reaches an exchange.
• Real: the prices. Equity is measured on a composite of the Bybit and Hyperliquid mark prices, and market orders fill against the live Bybit order book, so you pay the spread and slippage the market had at that moment.
• Real: the fee you pay and the rewards you receive, both in bitcoin. A reward is a payment under the trader agreement from the firm's own revenue. It is not a trading profit from real capital.

How a crypto prop firm earns

Evaluation fees are the main income of an evaluation-model prop firm, and rewards are paid from that income. The rules are the terms on which the firm agrees to pay, and they are the same for every trader on the same ruleset. Ours are published in full on the rules page, generated from the document the engine uses to evaluate your account.

What to compare between crypto prop firms

Firms differ less in their headline numbers than in the details behind them. Before you buy, check:

1. The loss limits and how they move. Is the daily floor set from balance or from equity, and does the max loss floor stay fixed or trail your highs? Crypto prop firm rules, explained covers both.
2. The price that decides a breach. One exchange's price can spike on its own; a composite of several venues cannot be moved by one of them.
3. Consistency and minimum days. Some firms cap the share of the profit that one day may contribute.
4. Payouts. The schedule, the minimum, the caps per payout and for life, and the method. Many crypto prop firms pay in stablecoins; we pay in bitcoin. See how payouts in bitcoin work.
5. Refunds and rule changes. Our fee is refunded in full if you ask before your first trade, and the rules on your account never change against you after purchase.

If you are new to prop trading

1. Learn the words the rules use: the glossary defines each one with our numbers.
2. Read the rules of one model end to end on the rules page, or compare both on 1-Step vs 2-Step.
3. Try your usual trade sizes in the position size calculator and a typical week in the drawdown simulator.
4. Pick an account size whose fee you can afford to lose: how to choose an account size.
5. Know what comes after a pass: identity verification and payouts in bitcoin.

Before you pay

Treat the fee as the cost of an attempt. After your first trade it is not refunded, and a breach ends the account. Read how a crypto trading challenge works, then choose a size on the challenges page.